slight addict
You take offence
like God takes praise,
more out of habit
than need,
for the kicks,
not the care
and the rush
of blood
to the spleen
not the heart.
"Slight Addict" was published in DREICH Magazine Winter Extra 2020.
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STILL LIFE
Still life
reflects images of now
while
in a flicker of an eye
seen, unseen
unknowing who
or why
vision blurs
to distant point
where,
periphery
of liminal living
calls to mind
ancient memories
that life is still.
TIME'S UP.
Somewhere,
between the starting gun
and the finishing line
the human race
was rigged.
THE VOICE
Sometimes it seems distant,
sometimes quiet,
sometimes silent,
once loud, but
too often muffled
to the whisper
of sotto voce,
flattened by the
selfish tones
of others need.
But being seen
and being known
filters out the background
clamour of old doubts
as lungs draw breath
fuelled with a new song,
the world prepares
for the anticipated echo
of the impending roar.
"The Voice was published in Saccharine Poetry Vol 2 Autumn 2020
SAGACITY
1.
The cold comfort of fragile certainty
twisted through the acrid ground of doctrine,
canons to the left, canons to the right,
spurs the deft retreat into Gilead.
2.
Permeating the gift of uncertainty
is the gentle consolation of doubt,
finding faith in starry constellations
strewn with the wisdom of the soul.
3.
When wisdom is kidnapped,
hostages rarely survive.
PAS DE DEUX
We watched the two of them,
more with delight than surprise
at the hopelessness of their chosen dance.
Two setters, one red, one white
jumping and spinning with dogged glee
in hot pursuit of rude and taunting birds,
swooping and swaying through balmy air,
laughing with easy arrogant nonchalance
at the frenzy of the hairy pirouette.
But the dogs, caught up in tireless trance
unfettered by the pointless limitations
of hopeless ambition, dance attendance
on the joyous pursuit of beauty and grace.
Till home again, they flop exhausted
bound together in sleep, legs twitching
with sweet memory of their most blessed dance.
Pas de Deux was published in DREICH MAGAZINE Winter Extra 2020
LIVING?
What passion shapes your vision
for your wild and precious life?
Does the turbulence of living
make you breathless for the race?
Or does your narrow contradiction
from your living disengage
in the quiet subjugation
of the tyranny of beige?
Living? was published in DREICH MAGAZINE Winter Extra 2020
TWO TRIBES
TWO TRIBES
An essay on understanding the binary societal divisions pervasive within the age of Brexit
1. Dog people
Dog people
are nice people,
they talk to me and you.
They meet and greet along the street,
and mostly pick up poo.
2. Cat people
Cat people
aren’t.
